Gabriel Cristian Iancu (; born 15 April 1994) is a Romanian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

or an attacking midfielder. Iancu began his senior career at Viitorul Constanța in 2011, and at age 18 returned to FCSB where he was previously a junior. He won six trophies with the latter, but has since had multiple brief spells since leaving the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

in 2015. On his second stint at Viitorul, Iancu aided to a league title in the 2016–17 season, and on his third netted 18 times to become the top scorer of the

2019–20 Liga I The 2019–20 Liga I (also known as Casa Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons) was the 102nd season of the Liga I, the top professional league for Romanian association football clubs, which began in July 2019 and was scheduled to end in June 2020. Sus ...

. He has competed professionally in three countries apart from his own, namely Turkey, Poland and Russia. Internationally, Iancu represented the

Romania national team Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and t ...

at several youth levels including the under-21 side, before going on to record his debut for the seniors in 2020.

Club career

Viitorul Constanța

Iancu made his senior debut for Viitorul Constanța on 1 September 2011, in a 2–0 Liga II home win over Callatis Mangalia. In March 2012, he and his Viitorul teammate

Bogdan Țîru Bogdan Ionuț Țîru (; born 15 March 1994) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ekstraklasa club Warta Poznań. International career In November 2016 Țîru received his first call-up to the senior Romania squad ...

were on trial at Ajax, and he was also linked with a move to Galatasaray. Iancu's first goal also came in a match against Callatis Mangalia, scoring the last of his team in a 5–1 away thrashing on 21 April 2012. By the end of the season which ended in promotion to the Liga I, he totalled five goals in twelve appearances.

Steaua București

Iancu continued his goalscoring run by netting six times from 18 games in the first half of the

2012–13 Liga I The 2012–13 Liga I was the ninety-fifth season of Liga I, the top-level football league of Romania. The season began on 21 July 2012 and ended on 30 May 2013. CFR Cluj were the defending champions. Since Romania dropped from 14th to 22nd plac ...

, which inspired a move to his former boyhood club FC Steaua București in the winter transfer window. The eventual champions acquired 70% of his economic rights for a rumoured

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

500,000 fee, and his five-year contract included a €25 million

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in a contract that imposes an obligation on another organisation wishing to acquire the services of the employee under contract to pay the (usually substantial) fee of the clause to the organisati ...

. On 30 July 2013, Iancu scored the goals of a 2–0 away victory over Georgian side

Dinamo Tbilisi Dinamo Tbilisi is a sports club from Tbilisi, Georgia. It was founded in 1925. Among its highest honors, is the European trophy earned by its football team which won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1981, beating FC Carl Zeiss Jena of East Germany 2–1 i ...

, facilitating Steaua's progression to the UEFA Champions League play-off round. He played two matches in the group stage of the latter competition, as Steaua finished last behind Chelsea, Schalke 04 and Basel, respectively. Iancu did not impose himself at the Bucharest-based club and in the 2015–16 campaign was sent out on loan to Karabükspor in Turkey, where he only scored once in four games.

Return to Viitorul Constanța

In the summer of 2016, Iancu rejoined Viitorul Constanța as a free agent. On 13 May 2017, he converted a penalty in a 1–0 defeat of CFR Cluj, which earned Viitorul its first national title.

Termalica Nieciecza

In September 2017, Iancu joined Polish club Termalica Nieciecza on a two-year deal. Two weeks later, he made his Ekstraklasa debut by coming on as a substitute and scoring the winner in a 2–1 victory against

Lechia Gdańsk Lechia Gdańsk () is a Polish football club based in Gdańsk. The club was founded in 1945 by people expelled from Lwów, who were supporters of Poland's oldest football team Lechia Lwów, founded in 1903. The club's name comes from Lechia, a ...

Return to Romania

Iancu returned to Romania for the 2018–19 season, playing in quick succession for Voluntari and

Dunărea Călărași Dunărea may refer to: * Dunărea, the Romanian name for the river Danube in Central Europe * Dunărea (river), a tributary of the Danube in Constanța County, Romania * Dunărea, a village in the commune Seimeni, Constanța County, Romania See ...

before being once again re-signed by Viitorul Constanța in June 2019. He managed to become top scorer of the

by netting 18 goals from 28 appearances.

Akhmat Grozny

Iancu earned a €500,000 transfer to

Akhmat Grozny Republican Football Club Akhmat ( ce, футболан клуб Ахмат Соьлжа-ГӀала; russian: Республиканский футбольный клуб Ахмат Грозный), commonly known as Akhmat Grozny, is a Russian ...

on 13 January 2021, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract with the Russian Premier League club. On 3 February 2022, Iancu returned for a third time to Viitorul, now renamed Farul Constanța, on loan for the remainder of the season.

FC U Craiova

On 20 July 2022, Iancu signed for

FC U Craiova FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

after his loan at Farul expired.

International career

On 7 September 2020, Iancu made his debut for the

by coming on for injured

Ciprian Deac Ciprian Ioan Deac (; born 16 February 1986) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a winger or an attacking midfielder for Liga I club CFR Cluj. After starting out at Unirea Dej, he spent most of his professional career at CFR Cluj, ...

in the 40th minute of a 3–2 away win over Austria in the UEFA Nations League.

Personal life

Iancu has been married since 2019, with the couple having one son who was born the following year.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Steaua București * Liga I:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14, 2014–15 *

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...

: 2014–15; runner-up: 2013–14 * Cupa Ligii: 2014–15 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României ( en, Romanian Supercup) is a Romanian football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994, ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Viitorul Constanța * Liga I: 2016–17 *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual * Liga I top scorer: 2019–20 * Liga I Team of the Season: 2019–20

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iancu, Gabriel 1994 births Footballers from Bucharest Living people Romanian footballers Romania international footballers Romania under-21 international footballers Romania youth international footballers Association football forwards Association football midfielders Liga I players FC Viitorul Constanța players FC Steaua București players FC Voluntari players FC Dunărea Călărași players TFF First League players Kardemir Karabükspor footballers Ekstraklasa players Bruk-Bet Termalica Nieciecza players Russian Premier League players FC Akhmat Grozny players FCV Farul Constanța players FC U Craiova 1948 players Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate footballers in Russia Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Russia